The Prissy Mommy Chronicles

Wordless Wednesday

Chase with Grandmommy and Ron in Maryland
Chase @ 9 Months & 1 Week Old

Grocery Shopping + Penny Pinching

 

image source: Getty Images

Grocery shopping is the bane of my existence.  It's a necessary evil that I dread each week.  I shop during my lunch break at work, generally on a Monday - it's a hurried, dispassionate experience.  Shopping during lunch isn't ideal but really is the only time I can find in the week to do it, as Chase is tired after I pick him up from day care at 4:30 and it really wouldn't be fair to subject him to that 1.5 hour ordeal so late in the day.  Anyway, he goes to sleep for the night by 7 pm, so those couple of hours after we get home are our special time.

 

I must admit, with the state of the economy so crummy, I find myself wondering what other families are doing to make it (especially single income households).  I think about money a lot - certainly more so than my husband.  Maybe it's residual paranoia from my days of living alone and having to penny pinch as a broke grad student...  Now that we're a "team" money isn't the issue that it was for me then, but I can't get out of that mentality.  And frankly, I don't want to.  I’m going to be honest here, as it’s certainly nothing to be ashamed of - I shop on a strict budget and have majorly cut back on unnecessary items.  I aim to keep our grocery bill as low as I possibly can.  Because we are both gainfully employed today does not mean that our circumstances couldn't change tomorrow, and I try to keep that in mind.

Unfortunately, keeping the grocery bill low can be a challenge when many of our favorite, staple dishes are pricey (salmon; dishes made with cheese) and sometimes I go over my self-imposed spending limit.  This is frustrating and, at these times, I often wonder how these moms I read about are spending under $100 per week, for families larger than mine!  I also speculate about how our grocery bill is going to skyrocket once Chase is a big boy and there are now two grown men/appetites to feed.  Omg, the amount of water and iced tea Derek goes through in a week....  Now add to that a big, strapping teenage boy who will likely play sports - dear heavens!

So if I'm to fit everything in during lunch, and also stick to my budget, my grocery shopping really has to be an organized and calculated experience.  Well, I try my best to make it that, anyway.  I have a few hard and fast rules that I stick to:

♥ make weekly meal plans
♥ before we plan for meals, I see what ingredients are left and try to plan meals around those

♥ never ever go shopping without a list
♥ stick to my list religiously

♥ member of the grocery rewards program

♥ use coupons when I can - don't have the time/patience to clip them from the paper, but I use what Waldbaum's gives me with my receipt

♥ try my best not to shop on an empty stomach - but sometimes I do, and I always end up with some random box of cookies or chips in my cart

♥ uneaten leftovers become my next day's lunch (since someone isn't a fan of dinner leftovers, unless it's one of his favorites :-)

I'd love to know about your grocery store experience.  What self-imposed rules do you follow, and how do you manage to save money?  I'm also curious to know how many people are in your household and what you spend monthly (if you're comfortable sharing that information).

Honest Scrap Award

Erika Ward of Blu Label Bungalow graciously gave me this Honest Scrap Award. This is my very first blog award - yaaay me! LOL!!! Thanks Erika! 

Now I have the honor of passing the award along to the next fitting bloggers.

The Skinny:

• Say thanks and link back to the presenter of the award.
• Share "10 Honest Things" about myself.
• Present this award to 5 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
• Tell those 5 people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines upon receiving.

10 Honest Things:

♥ watching the news (especially local) generally depresses me, so I avoid it. This is good and bad. Good in that I don't have to face the ugliness of the world when I'm not in the mood.  Bad because I'm sometimes out of the loop in terms of what's going on in the world around me - and that's embarrassing.

♥ I haven't combed my hair in about a month.  I wear it in a bun each day.

♥ I wish I had more time in the day to get to know the folks who comment on my page/support my blog - I mean, beyond a superficial level.

♥ I'm having second thoughts about wanting a baby girl. I might just be content with a second boy... Funny, in the past it's all I thought I ever wanted. Now I don't know if there really is room enough in the household for two princesses.

♥ I don't know why I make commitments to write for other sites when I can barely keep up with my own.  I guess I enjoy the networking and exposure aspect of it - but the reality is that I probably should keep my original content for my own blog, since my cup doesn't exactly runneth over with great posts these days.

♥ Chase is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

♥ l wish all my old Xanga buddies still blogged - I miss those days a lot.  We were such a close-knit, private blogging community.

♥ I feel a little sorry for folks obsessed with SEO.  It seems that must take some of the pleasure and freedom away from blogging.

♥ I'd love to have D.J. Lance Rock's job from "Yo Gabba Gabba."  I think I'd be a natural.

♥ When I was pregnant with Chase I was scared that he wasn't going to be cute, based on his 3d ultrasound pics.  But I could only admit this to a few folks: my best friend, my sister, Derek.  When you're honest about that type of thing with most people you run the risk of being called superficial, ungrateful, selfish, etc etc. 

5 Bloggers:

• Kenesha of The Baby Head Diaries
• Tara of The Young Mommy Life
• Nikki of Blasian Baby Notes
• Kristina of Mom On The Rise
• Tatianna of Sex and the Southern Belle

Dove Campaign for Real Beauty

Hi folks, I'm taking part in the Dove Real Beauty Campaign, which is an initiative designed to help girls recognize and appreciate their unique beauty, rather than embracing society's standard of beauty.  I would LOVE it if you'd check out my blog post about how you can help out.

In a nutshell, I'm asking those of you with daughters/nieces/cousins/whomever to (1) take a few minutes to interview that special little girl in your life and create a brief, 30 second video asking her what she feels makes her beautiful. (2) We'll submit it to the Dove campaign and then (3) you would leave a comment on my blog post telling me that you made this video. With each video submission to Dove we're raising money that will go toward self-esteem programs/workshops.  Just that simple!

Please join me in this wonderful initiative to teach girls how to deal with the media hype about body image as well as the importance of loving the skin they’re in!

Separation of (Blogging) Business and (Blogging) Pleasure

 
image source: Getty Images

Lately I've been feeling that my once "mommy blog" has become consumed with product reviews and contests.  Though I've made no secret of the fact that I welcome and enjoy PR, I fear I may have somewhere along the road lost sight of the original reason I started this blog in the first place - to give long distance family/friends an opportunity to be part of Chase's ever-evolving life each day, and to also document this very special time in my life (a cyber "baby book," if you will).  But these days it seems I spend more time engaging in PR business than sharing personal experiences/reflections.  And while reviews are fun to do and giveaways my way of "thanking" those of you who have been loyal/supportive of the blog... I wonder if it isn't unfair to those readers (namely family) who come to my blog, eagerly expecting to read a funny/silly/cute Chase/mommy anecdote, but instead see yet another contest.

Now in the same token I think product reviews are extremely invaluable tools.  It's no secret that women have tremendous buying power.  But more specifically, I learned at Blogalicious that women of color actually control 85% of all purchase decisions made today!  So naturally companies are coming to us mom bloggers for review and assessment of their products.  Word of mouth is a powerful animal and we sure use it - in our church groups, our PTA meetings, our message boards, our book clubs and sister-friend luncheons...  I think the reviews I do are important and I want to continue providing a young, African-American mom perspective to those companies/campaigns that value feedback. 

However, what I don't want to do is mix "business with pleasure" any longer.  I want to find a way to continue enjoying both worlds - blogging about Chase and the prissy mommy life, and also sampling and reviewing new, cutting edge products that could impact me and my household.    

So with that said, Ive decided to create a "sister blog" of sorts. It will strictly be for PR.  I'll of course announce contests on this site (and tweet about them), but those posts will now be reserved for The Prissy Mommy Reviews & Giveaways.  I hope you all support me in this new endeavor!

Muchas Smoochas!

Wordless Wednesday

 10-30-09
Halloween At The Office
@JackieMetal the Sorceress, Jenna the Teddy Bear, & PrissyMommy as Raggedy Ann

H1N1 and Revelations About Parenting

 
image source: Germs Are Not for Sharing (Best Behavior Series) by Elizabeth Verdick and Marieka Heinlen

The last couple months we've been struggling with the decision of whether or not to give Chase the H1N1 vaccine.  Derek and I have discussed the topic ad nauseum but as yet haven't come to any resolution.  The good news is that we're both on the same page... the not so good news is that page includes us wavering in our feelings about it.  Chase has actually had the first in a series of two (regular) flu shots already.  This came at the recommendation of his pediatrician, whom I trust whole-heartedly.  He goes back for the second next Saturday, in fact.  We chose to give him the flu shot because he is in daycare where he is exposed to many other kids and caretakers (read: germs!!!) throughout the day. I'm comfortable with this decision and in fact never had any concerns about it.

Now this swine flu business... it scares the bejesus out of us (maybe me more so than Derek).  There have been multiple reported cases of swine flu in the New York area and there are posted signs throughout his daycare, as well as at my job, listing symptoms that require you to stay home.  It's a continual reminder that the swine flu is here and to be vigilant.  And suddenly they've got this vaccine that they're recommending for folks, and in particular women who are expecting, babies, children, the elderly - basically those with compromised immune systems.  Now while I'm a pro-vaccine mommy I am nervous because I think it came out way too fast and, as far as I'm concerned, we don't know it's long term effects ( a la thalidomide of 1957-1961).  It's only been out since the summer and I don't trust it.  My understanding is that it contains mercury and is similar to a vaccine introduced in the 70's that treated a similar condition but caused folks to get Guillerre-Barre syndrome.  So I am reluctant to subject Chase to this until it has been studied more.  I just don't like it.

We obviously plan on taking normal sickness precautions, which we use every day anyway.  But I'm truly afraid that may not be enough.  Each time Chase gets sick (well it's only been twice since he was born - diarrhea each time) I get a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I start to get paranoid, wondering if it couldn't be something more serious than just a little stomach virus or teething.  And it's during those times that I say to myself (and Derek), "I definitely think we should get him vaccinated."  I wonder if a decision not to get him vaccinated is a selfish one - after all, aside from internet/message board research (and just how credible is that, really?) and brief chats with the pediatrician (who remains ambivalent), neither of us have taken the time to deeply investigate what the vaccine is about. I think we're both pretty much going on a gut feeling, or a hunch that something doesn't "feel right" about it.  But really, where is the science in that?  We owe our son more than that.  Decisions like this one are so hard... and I just don't feel prepared to make such an important one right now. However, I realize that being a parent doesn't work like that - you can't always make a decision when you're "ready."  Sometimes you have to be ready today.

Funny, I always knew that parenting would involve tough decisions about how to raise, teach, care for, and nurture our kids.  I just didn't think I'd have to make such a tough one until Chase was older.  And even then I thought it would be things like:

• Should we send Chase to private school?
• Should Chase have his own TV in his room (or is that encouraging isolation from the family, obesity, discouraging recreational reading, etc)? 

And as he gets older:

• When he's 15 and begging to get his ear pierced like all the other "cool" boys in the 10th grade, do we let him?
• Should he be allowed to take that little part-time job on weekends he's begging for, or should he be satisfied with his weekly allowance and focus all his extra attention on school and socializing?

I guess I never bargained for a "swine flu" and having to quickly make a (potentially) life or death decision for our 10 month old infant.  It's scary and it's very much here and in our face.  I've always been the type to consult with trusted others, for support, guidance, or direction, when I'm uncertain.  But I know this is a personal decision, and one that only me and Derek can make, along with our pediatrician.

In other (lighter) news.... just as I suspected, Daylight's Savings Time has meant nothing to Chase.  He's been up bright and early each morning at 5:00 am, which to him is actually 6:00 am.  He still co-sleeps next to me so on Monday he started out by tossing and turning in his little bed and chattering quietly to himself.  I think he realized it was still "night-night" and, to his credit, was trying hard to reign himself in. He wasn't able to contain his exuberance long, and soon he sat up and kneeled next to me.  He started patting my face mischievously, biting my nose, and giggling.  I mumbled that it was still "night-night,"  but when Derek got up to use the bathroom he grinned triumphantly.  This was evidence to him that it really was time to get up.  He stood up in his bed decisively and I went ahead and picked him up and laid him in between us, where he crawled around and stood up and flung himself down and writhed around in the sheets and played hide and seek with both of us until my alarm went off at 6:00 am.  Good times.  I truly love it. lol.  This has actually gotten me to work early/on time every day this week, which is a stupendous thing! No more snoozing til 6:30 am.

Nailene French Manicure Kit Giveaway Winners

Hi folks! 

Please pardon my tardiness in announcing the winners of the Nailene French Manicure Kits.  I fully intended to post this on Monday and time escaped me.  Mark it to my head and not my heart. :-)

Without further ado, the winners are:

♥ Clarissa

♥ Jeccica Simpson

♥ Ashley

♥ Hijabi Apprentice

Congratulations ladies!  I sure hope you enjoy your Nailene french manicure kits - I love mine!  Be sure to send me your mailing addy so I can get those kits out to you!

Halloween 2009 - Celebrating "The Princess and the Frog"

So I tried my darndest to keep this year's costumes a secret, but I was bursting with such excitement that I leaked to a few of you!  As most of you probably know by now Disney will introduce the first African-American princess in fairy tale history in "The Princess and the Frog."  I'm beyond delighted about this because the implied message of Princess Tiana is that African-American girls can be as elegant and beautiful as Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, and all the other European Disney princesses. 

Princess Tiana symbolizes a culture-changing standard of feminine beauty and it was important to me to share with the world just how beautiful and important Tiana is to our community!  So in honor of this cultural milestone I decided that we would go as characters from The Princess and the Frog - well, the Etheridge family version, anyway (lol).

I mentioned yesterday that we had "big plans" for Chase's first Halloween.  Well, before leaving for our function we enjoyed a mini-photo session in the Enchanted Garden (a la our backyard).

The Tale of the Princess and the Frog

There once lived a beautiful Princess named Tiana who lived in an Enchanted Castle far away.  She had but one friend, a handsome young frog named Chase.  He had once been a prince but many years ago was turned into a frog after a witch cast an evil spell.



To become a real person again all the frog needed was the kiss from a princess.
 


One magical evening, while waltzing in the Enchanted Garden...



Princess Tiana decided to give her frog friend a kiss!



And POOF... the Frog Prince became a handsome, big, strong King!
 


And they all lived happily ever after in their Enchanted Kingdom! 

The End

(Ha ha, a tad Oedipal, I know.  Told ya it was the Etheridge family rendition :-)

So Chase's very first Halloween celebration was spent in.... none other than The Village - how absolutely classic New York, right?  LOL!!!  Before the mayhem and chaos of the Annual Halloween Parade ensued we attended Halloween Fun Day in Greenwich Village.

We had a really nice time!  Chase of course loves music and was intrigued by the assortment of instruments available to play (and eat, of course!)  Oh, and might I add, we were quite popular in our Princess Tiana and Frog Prince costume - we were the only coordinating family! 

  

Just arriving at the Halloween event

Chase cooling out after dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

 

Chase posing with one of his new friends!

 

Chase and Daddy

Chase and Mommy with "Kids at Work" founder and owner Julie Averill

 

The only other mom of color - we met and chatted after the baby segment.  She was actually bringing her daughter to the toddler segment which followed.
 

 

Chase and Daddy at his grandparent's house after the event

I think it's safe to say that Chase thoroughly enjoyed his first Halloween!  Aaaah, and he has no idea that his mom is a Halloween-fiend and that the best is yet to come - but he'll find out soon enough!!!! *wicked witch laugh*

Hope you enjoyed your Halloween celebration - be safe tonight!

"Race To The Rescue" Book & Bobbi Brown Makeup Giveaway #9

A few weeks ago I was invited to join celebrity makeup artist Bobbi Brown and her dad, Joe Brown, to celebrate the launch of his new book at a special reading at the Scholastic Book Store.  Joe Brown's book, The Flights of Marceau:  Race to the Rescue tells the adventures of a character Joe Brown made up when Bobbi and her siblings were young.  To celebrate the launch, Scholastic hosted a reading event for select New York City children and their moms.  At the event, Bobbi would introduce Joe, who would read from Race to the Rescue, followed by a discussion with the children, challenging them to use their own imaginations to tell a story.

Following the event, the children received signed copies of The Flights of Marceau: Race to the Rescue.  Meanwhile, Bobbi would be taking some time to meet with the moms and offer a private reception with her, in which she would offer recommendations for a one-minute-makeup session for busy moms on the go!  Oh boy, do I need that in the mornings before work!  Moreover, we would be given her "Must Have" Palette, as a special gift, as well as copies of the book for a blog giveaway. 

Oh girls, I squealed with delight upon receiving this invite, as the event combined two things I am so very passionate about: children's literature and beauty wellness!  The idea of merging the two worlds to create a Manhattan blogger event - brilliant!  Moreover, how perfect for a gal like me who fancies herself both a mommy and (wanna-be) beauty blogger, right?  But sadly, as I read on, I saw that the event would take place on a weekday afternoon.  The date conflicted with an especially jam-packed work week (wrought with meetings and presentations) and I simply wasn't able to take the time off from the hospital.  Sorrowfully I declined the invitation.  I couldn't believe I was going to miss an in-person meeting with one of my makeup muses, Bobbi Brown, and a chance for Chase to enjoy a book reading and meet new friends.  However, all was not lost!  The lovely folks over at Scholastic books were kind enough to send copies over anyway so that Chase and I could enjoy it from home!  

I also received Bobbi's "Must Have" Palette! 

Includes seven-well lip palette with lip brush (featuring Italian Rose Creamy Lip Color, Nude Pink Lip Color, Heather Buff Creamy Lip Color, Uber Pink Creamy Lip Color, Baby Peach Metallic Creamy Lip Color, Dusk Metallic Lip Color and Kir Metallic Lip Color), two-pan eyeshadow palette (featuring Nude Beach Metallic Eye Shadow and Hot Stone Eye Shadow), full-size Espresso Ink Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner, mini black Everything Mascara and new mini dual-ended eyeshadow/ultra-fine eyeliner brush.

About the Book:

The Flights of Marceau: Race to the Rescue tells the story of a new and unlikely hero – Marceau is a New York City taxi driver who regales his passengers with fanciful tales of his adventures. In Race to the Rescue, Marceau must help a collection of zoo animals that have been left stranded in the wake of a hurricane. Together, Marceau and his animal friends join forces to bring food to the stranded zoo residents and save the day! The Flights of Marceau: Race to the Rescue also contains rhyming text, a glossary, and full-color illustrations by Stephen Marchesi.

My Review:

I want to preface this by saying how much Derek and I love literature and value reading in our home.  As a daughter of two educators (both my parents are college professors) my sisters and I were  surrounded by books, books, and more books growing up.  Our parents were reading to us as babies and, by fifth grade, I had already completed my first novel (not kidding).  Similarly, Derek comes from a household of voracious readers - he describes the walls of his childhood home as lined with book shelves... and his earliest memories include the family enjoying quiet reading time together, each in his or her own nook of the house.  Needless to say, books are an important aspect of our household.

So as I've noted, Race to the Rescue was an exciting, dramatic, and super fun read.  One thing I did forget to mention in the video, that I especially appreciated, is the fact that a wide range of vocabulary words are used, which surely will be great for your early-reading little ones.  At the bottom of each page key words are defined, encouraging further opportunity for discussion and learning.  I'm looking forward to collecting all the other books in the Flights of Marceau series, and will let you know as those become available as well.

Prizing Values:

♥ The Flights of Marceau: Race to the Rescue book valued at $9.99.  The book is available through The Scholastic Store Online.
♥ Bobbi Brown's "Must Have" Palette valued at $122

 

There will be TWO (2) winners who will each receive one (1) copy of The Flights of Marceau.  ONE (1) grand prize winner will additionally receive the limited-edition Bobbi's "Must Have" Palette.

To Win a Book:

• Leave a comment telling me why you'd like to win this book  

To Win the Grand Prize:

• Submit a YouTube Video Response stating 1) why you would like to win this book and also 2) why you NEED this fabulous, limited-edition Bobbi Brown makeup palette!  The winning video will be posted on this site! *smile*
• Derek will be judging those videos, so feel free to butter him up if you like!

Extra Entries:

• Become a follower (via Google Friends Connect or NetworkedBlogs)
• Leave a brief review of my blog on Amazon for Kindle using this link. Write "review" in the comments
• Blog about this giveaway and link back to my site. "blogged about it"
• Add my button to your blog.  Leave link to your blog.
• Follow me on Twitter (@ThePrissyMommy) and Tweet this giveaway (up to twice a day).  Leave link to your tweet. 
• Send an e-mail to your friend(s) about this contest and CC me. Write "email" in the comments.
• Subscribe to my updates.  Write "subscribed" in the comments.

Rules:

• Eligible entry will be randomly chosen as the winner.
• The deadline for entries is November 9, 3:00 pm, EST.
• Leave each "Extra Entry" in a separate comment or it will not count.
• Please include your email addy within the comment so I can contact you if you win the prize.
• The winner will be announced on this blog (as well as emailed) on November 11, 2009, EST.
• You will have 3 days to accept or another winner will be chosen.
• Valid for US addresses only.

*Note* The more entries you've submitted, the greater your chance of being selected!  

Good luck!!!!